Vigario brothers set sights on Olympics glory
The siblings would like to go to the Olympics to win.
South Africa’s Jacob Maliekal is the only African male badminton player to win a match at the Olympics since the sport was added to the quadrennial Games in 1992.
Maliekal dispatched Ukrainian Artem Pochtarev 21-18, 21-19 in the group phase at the Rio Olympics in 2016 and that’s the furthest he went in the competition.
Although the women’s record is marginally better, with SA’s Kerry-Lee Harrington and Egyptian Hadia Hosany reaching the second round of the Beijing Olympics in 2008, no other African has gone beyond that.
But that could change at either Los Angeles 2028 or Brisbane 2032 where Eastern Gauteng Badminton Association (EGBA) and the SA top-ranked U19 player Miguel Vigario has big plans.
“I would like to go further than any SA player has in the sport, further than just making the Olympics and possibly winning the men’s singles gold,” he said.
Although he understands it won’t be easy to break the stronghold of China, South Korea, Indonesia and lately Denmark, Miguel is so confident in his abilities that he has already laid the foundation to expand his dominance beyond SA.
He currently leads the national U19 boys’ rankings with 1 174 points in singles, 1 127 in doubles and 1 043 in mixed doubles for a combined 3 344 points overall.
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Among some of his achievements, he helped SA to third place at the All Africa U19 Championships in Senegal in August. He also won the singles and boys’ doubles trophies at the SA U19 open championships in Pretoria in July.
“I’m very grateful for the opportunities given to me in the sport. My coach has done a lot for me and my doubles partners have been exceptional on the court.”
Miguel’s young brother, Ricardo, has also set his sights on the Olympics and aims to be dominant in all formats of the game.
“Badminton means a lot to me. It helps me grow socially and physically and it’s something I want to pursue in the future,” said Ricardo.
Like his sibling, Ricardo is dominant in all three formats and ranks first in the U17 boys’ division overall. He’s third in the singles with 500 points and tops the doubles and mixed doubles standings with 607 and 674 points, respectively, for 1 781 points overall.
Besides winning the boys’ doubles and mixed doubles at the national U17 inter-provincials, he clichéd a silver medal at the All Africa U15 champs, bronze at the continental U19 champs and won the doubles with Miguel at the national U19 competition.
“So far, I’ve achieved some things but I want to achieve a lot more. I want to be the best I can be,” he said.
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